Columbus and Western Railway

{{Short description|Historic railroad in Georgia, United States}}

The Columbus and Western Railway (C&W) is a historic railroad that operated in Georgia, United States.

Organized in 1880, the C&W was founded to connect Columbus, Georgia, to Birmingham, Alabama. The same year, the C&W started by purchasing the Savannah and Memphis Railroad, which ran {{convert|66|mi}} between Opelika and Goodwater, Alabama. Two years later, it purchased a {{convert|55|mi|sing=on}} branch of the Western Railroad of Alabama between Columbus and Opelika. In 1888, the C&W constructed the final leg of the line from Goodwater to Birmingham and later that year merged into the Savannah and Western Railroad.{{cite book| first=Jim| last=Cox| title=Rails Across Dixie: A History of Passenger Trains in the American South| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gY4FgCKdb7UC&pg=PA55| date=10 November 2010| publisher=McFarland| isbn=978-0-7864-6175-2|pages=55}}